×
INTELLIGENT WORK FORUMS
FOR ENGINEERING PROFESSIONALS

Log In

Come Join Us!

Are you an
Engineering professional?
Join Eng-Tips Forums!
  • Talk With Other Members
  • Be Notified Of Responses
    To Your Posts
  • Keyword Search
  • One-Click Access To Your
    Favorite Forums
  • Automated Signatures
    On Your Posts
  • Best Of All, It's Free!
  • Students Click Here

*Eng-Tips's functionality depends on members receiving e-mail. By joining you are opting in to receive e-mail.

Posting Guidelines

Promoting, selling, recruiting, coursework and thesis posting is forbidden.

Students Click Here

Jobs

High temperature cleaning, engine parts

High temperature cleaning, engine parts

High temperature cleaning, engine parts

(OP)
So what do all here think about high temp cleaning of cast iron engine parts? From what I understand the temps used are around the 700 to 800 F range.  

RE: High temperature cleaning, engine parts

It only removes organics.

Won't touch the crap in the water jacket.

If you're allowed to use solvents, why bother?

 

Mike Halloran
Pembroke Pines, FL, USA

RE: High temperature cleaning, engine parts

It _will_ anneal _all_ aluminum alloys, affect many steels, and melt many zinc alloys.  You have to be careful what you put in.

You also have to sandblast afterwards to remove the ash.  That puts back some of the labor content you didn't need for the burning, and greatly increases the volume and weight of the toxic waste stream you must pay to get rid of.

It probably makes sense in California.





 

Mike Halloran
Pembroke Pines, FL, USA

RE: High temperature cleaning, engine parts

(OP)
Reason I asked as I see it as very detrimental to cast iron as well. If 700 to 900 degrees F is okay then simple overheating an engine should not crack or warp a head or distort etc etc.  

RE: High temperature cleaning, engine parts

There's nothing simple about overheating an engine.  The heat input is periodic and concentrated, and mechanisms that normally abate the heat have already failed in any of a thousand ways.  I see minimal correlation to gradual heating in an oven with circulating air and functioning controls.

 

Mike Halloran
Pembroke Pines, FL, USA

RE: High temperature cleaning, engine parts

(OP)
Are there any studies on the distortion caused by it?
 

RE: High temperature cleaning, engine parts

In my opinion, if you soak a block and/or heads at 700+ degrees you have just turned it into scrap.  I doubt very much that the thing would remain straight.

It is better to have enough ideas for some of them to be wrong, than to be always right by having no ideas at all.

RE: High temperature cleaning, engine parts

Distortion from heat can be two ways that I know of.

The heat is unevenly applied and unevenly removed so some parts expand more than others creating stress. The stress is then relieved by further heating then the new form is frozen in during cooling.

The heat goes high enough to break down the crystal structure to some degree, then the rate of cooling causes a different crystal structure and shrinkage. The different shrinkage causes warping.

This is all happening in 3 dimensions throughout the part, with the section thickness and temperature gradients all impacting.

Regards
Pat
See FAQ731-376: Eng-Tips.com Forum Policies for tips on use of eng-tips by professional engineers &
http://eng-tips.com/market.cfm
for site rules
 

Red Flag This Post

Please let us know here why this post is inappropriate. Reasons such as off-topic, duplicates, flames, illegal, vulgar, or students posting their homework.

Red Flag Submitted

Thank you for helping keep Eng-Tips Forums free from inappropriate posts.
The Eng-Tips staff will check this out and take appropriate action.

Reply To This Thread

Posting in the Eng-Tips forums is a member-only feature.

Click Here to join Eng-Tips and talk with other members!


Resources